Sunday, February 26, 2012

Life Changing.

So the other night I went on a date with a guy I had met the previous week. Our first meeting was all about guessing stuff about each other. He guessed I was a history teacher... I guessed he was the first born son based off his unusual name... anyways I thought his idea for a date was genius. (I wouldn't be surprised if he used this idea often, but it was still genius!) We went to Barnes and Noble. He told me I had 10 minutes to walk around the store and come up with 5 books that I thought he would like and he'd do the same. As I was walking around I got caught up in all of the books that I have read and loved. All of the sudden I looked down and realized it had been longer than 10 minutes so I quickly grabbed a few books that I thought were funny and grabbed a couple of books I loved. Books I grabbed for him: How to get a job even with a nose ring. And my personal favorite: A diary of a Wimpy Kid. (Luckily he wasn't offended... he thought it was hilarious)

But so bad as I was walking around the store... I really just wanted to talk to him about the books that really changed me. But rather than boring him.... I figure I'd bore you. So here it is:

The 5 books that have changed my life.

Number 5: Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.

Number 4: When you drop your ethics to chase after a mirage... in the end you will feel so ruined that the only solution is to throw yourself in front of a train.

Number 3: So Twain created a fictional character to be Joan's childhood friend to narrate the true story of her life. At the end of the book, as Joan is burning on the stake he says, "Was this world wonder in our midst all these years, and we too dull to see it?"

Number 2: It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities[indeed one or the other is an eventuality], it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another… all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.

There are no ordinary people.

You have never talked to a mere mortal.

Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.